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THE GREENBRIER CLASSIC

August 1, 2010

Jay Overton

WHITE SULPHUR SRPINGS, WEST VIRGINIA

DOUG MILNE: Like to welcome Jeff Overton to the interview room. Jeff, thank you very much for taking the time to come in. I know it's got to be difficult.
You had a great final round. Take us through your thoughts right now on that final round, and then we'll take some questions.
JEFF OVERTON: You know, got beat by a 59. What can you say? I played great; hit a lot of great shots.
The putter was just -- you can't win golf tournaments when you putt it that bad. We had three three-putts, and you just can't win golf tournaments when you three-putt three times on Sunday.
DOUG MILNE: Okay.

Q. (Question regarding No. 17.)
JEFF OVERTON: I thought I put a great stroke on it; I thought I put it right in the center. Yeah, like foot and a half from the hole it just went hard left. Might not have been a mark, but it looked like there was a pretty good -- that just happens or whatever on Sundays. Late in the day it gets bumpy.
I had my opportunities early and just didn't do it.

Q. Jeff, of course the talking heads on TV talk about you containing your emotions during final rounds and things. Do you feel like that's been an issue, just trying to stay calm?
JEFF OVERTON: You know, definitely I used to -- I was telling my caddie yesterday, I was like, The last couple years, when I make birdies and stuff I usually get pretty pumped and fired up. I just restricted that.
Every time I made a birdie, I tried to just be as calm, cool, and collected as I could, just because I would get so wound up and so fired up and I would wind up putting a bad swing on the next hole.
I was able to control that, because that's kind of how you keep birdies going. You get on birdie streaks, you make one and make another and make another.
As soon as you get up a little bit high, sometimes you end up messing up the next hole.

Q. When you were hearing the roars on 17 and 18 when Appleby was starting to make the move for 59, what were you feeling out there?
JEFF OVERTON: Yeah, I had like an eight-footer -- well, before that I heard the roar on 17, so I knew he'd made birdie there to get it to 21.
Then I'm like, I got to get this close; I got to make birdie here. I hit a good shot, and then I got about six feet up the hill and I heard another roar, which meant he must've hit a close shot on 18. I don't know. I haven't seen it or anything.
But I heard two roars, so I figured that either him or the other guy he was playing -- both of them must have hit it decent. So I was like, He just birdied. He's gonna birdie 18, too. So you knew I needed to make birdies there.
I kind of went into the state of mind that I needed to birdie all three holes. I made the putt there for birdie and went to the next hole and hit two great shots. I didn't think that that first putt was gonna be as slow as it was, and I thought I made the second. You can't really do anything about it.
The last hole I had a little extra adrenaline going, and was a little scared of hitting it over the green with a 9-iron. I just kind of caught it a little thin, and it came up short. But then that putt, I'm like, I'm gonna make this, I don't care. It just it didn't go in. It was close, but it didn't.

Q. Did you feel like No. 17 stayed with you on 18?
JEFF OVERTON: No, not at all. I really was like -- I had programmed myself to birdie 17 and 18. I really, you know, I hit it -- I mean, it was all over the flag today. I just hit it a groove low.
And then the putt I hit, the putt looked like it was in all the way. Soon as it came off the putter, I just about jumped out of my pants, and it just rolled over the edge.

Q. I know you're a young guy, but does that make it any easier? Really, you've got time. What is your thought process?
JEFF OVERTON: You know, I'm having a great year; playing great golf. It's tough to beat 59s. You know, hopefully I can continue to shapen up my game a little bit and hopefully shoot one sometime in my career.

Q. Another thing they were talking about is how when you swing through with your driver, you tend to dip your head a little bit and things like that and contort your spine a little more than a lot of players. Is that something you're working on, or is somebody working on with you?
JEFF OVERTON: You know, we've looked that on tape a lot, and I don't know whoever thinks that's a bad move, because actually I'm generating power with my legs. A lot of the best ball-strikers in history will do that. It's a power generator.
You know, if the fairways are 15 yards wide and you didn't have to hit it 330 to compete, maybe I wouldn't do that.

Q. Just to get it absolutely right, do you think that was a spike mark at 17 or just a bump? Could you tell what it was?
JEFF OVERTON: There was definitely a spike mark right there. I don't want to make excuses. I missed the putt. It didn't go in. You know, I was in the zone. Usually when you hit putts and you're in that state of mind, it's just hard to -- it's just very hard to deal with whenever you're like, Wow.
But, you know, it happened. And 59, that's pretty cool.

Q. We've been sitting here for four days watching you and other guys shoot at 59 and come up a little short. From a players' standpoint, did you guys think someone would shoot a 59 before this was over?
JEFF OVERTON: I didn't think -- I didn't know, but I definitely thought it was out there, you know, just because of how soft the greens are. If you get on a driver rhythm you can really get some short irons in there.

Q. I know you're just a little outside in the Ryder Cup standings, and today's paycheck is still probably pretty big. What are your plans? Are you playing Akron and Whistling Straits?
JEFF OVERTON: I don't know if I'm in yet. I'll have to have analyze things tomorrow. Definitely playing Whistling Straits. I don't know about Akron.

Q. Jim Furyk said earlier in the week that the scores out on tour are more indicative of setup and course design. Is there any way they could have set up the course to make it more difficult, or are the scores just a product of the length out here?
JEFF OVERTON: I mean, I thought the course was -- I mean, if you look at most tournaments like, you know, 18-under wins most tournaments. What did it take, 22-under here? I don't necessarily think that the course was the easiest golf course in the world. If you hit some bad shots off the tee you can really get in trouble.
At the same time, it's kind of fun. You get on a driver rhythm and you have some shorter shots in.

Q. Are you gonna play this tournament again next year?
JEFF OVERTON: Sure. Absolutely. Considering, the schedule, yeah.

Q. Sum up the week then. You did get beat by a 59. Tell me what you thought of Greenbrier and just in general?
JEFF OVERTON: It's just a great place. It's pretty cool what they have done with it here, you know. I never really knew anything like this consist the in West Virginia. I knew there were some hidden gems in the world, and this is definitely one of them.
The golf course fun and the hotel is cool and they got all those events that go on during the week. What an awesome event. Hopefully it can continue to get a lot of good players coming back.
DOUG MILNE: Thanks, Jeff, for taking the time. Good luck next week.
JEFF OVERTON: Thanks.

End of FastScripts

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